AS one of only two Chester players to have graced the hallowed Twickenham turf before, Andy Moore knows exactly what to expect when he returns to rugby HQ tomorrow. “It’s fantastic,” enthused the openside flanker. “The nerves, the adrenaline... the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. The night before the game is completely nerve-racking. You don’t sleep a wink.”

Moore fully expects another sleepless night tonight as he readies himself for Chester’s EDF Energy Intermediate Cup final against Birkenhead Park.

His first, fondly remembered, appearance at the home of rugby came in 2005 when he represented Cheshire against Yorkshire in the final of the RFU National Under 20 Championship.

“We beat them by one point,” recalled the 23-year-old trainee accountant. “I’ve got a 100% record so far at HQ, and I want to maintain it by winning two out of two!”

While Moore is as thrilled as any Chester player at the thought of playing at Twickenham, he had planned to be elsewhere this weekend – namely at a stag party for his brother, Cornish Pirates winger Jimmy Moore. The lure of Twickenham proved just too hard to resist.

“I’m gutted I can’t go on my brother’s stag weekend, and he’s upset he can’t come down to Twickers and watch me,” admitted Moore, who lives in Saughall. “He was there last time I played there. It’s a shame he can’t come this time.”

Moore won’t exactly be short on support though.

“I’ve got my parents, my grandparents, girlfriend, aunt and uncle all coming down,” he said. “All my family’s excited, everyone at work’s excited for me. It’s all for the team and for the club – we’re really looking forward to it.”

Moore was man of the match when Chester eliminated Newport from the semi-finals on a never-to-be-forgotten afternoon at Hare Lane last month. It’s a measure of the strength of Chester’s squad that Moore finds himself named only as a replacement for tomorrow’s final, although the former Wirral Grammar School pupil could still have a key role to play from the bench as other players tire on the vast Twickenham pitch.

Moore’s most treasured memory of Chester’s run to the final is of that stunning win over Midlands One outfit Newport, who arrived at Chester as favourites only to be stunned by the pace, commitment and invention of the home side’s rugby.

“The crowd we had here was about 1,500 and the noise they made, well, everyone said it felt electric,” said Moore, who joined Chester at the age of 18. “I got man of the match, and it was great.

“Newport had been talking themselves up, rubbishing us in the papers, but without a shadow of a doubt we dominated them in very aspect of the game. It was all the more sweet because of the rubbish they’d spouted about us.

“For us to turn them over, it was great.”

Chester’s reward for that pulsating win over Newport will be delivered tomorrow, when the players run out at Twickenham. Having experienced the unique atmosphere of the imposing venue once before, Moore can’t wait to sample it again.

Casting his mind back three years to Cheshire’s nail-biting win over Yorkshire, he recalled: “The moment the final whistle went, we looked up and saw everybody in the stands and it was a fantastic experience. It’s one I want to repeat. I don’t want to be on the losing side. I can imagine what it’s like – the whole place looming down on you.

“But the feelings you get when you’ve won and when you’re running out is something you may never ever experience again.”